Enticing group games after intermediate draw
Aidan Sloyan and his Ballyhaunis teammates will hope they can find their way back to the lofty heights of the Mayo SFC having suffered relegation in 2025.. Picture: David Farrell Photography
Can Ballyhaunis do like Kilmeena last year and make an immediate return to the senior championship? Will Moy Davitts reach a third successive intermediate final and finally get over the line? Could Ardnaree Sarsfields or Kiltane go one better than last year’s semi-final appearances? Or might Davitts lift the Sweeney Cup for the first time in 15 years – or Ballinrobe for the first time in 24? Which is the club most likely to end up playing junior football in 2027?
These are just some of the questions arising out of last week’s draw for the 2026 Egan Jewellers Mayo Intermediate Football Championship.
Kiltane and Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin are to meet for the third year running in the group stage of the county intermediate football championship and given they have lost to the Erris side on each of the past two occasions, the Black and Amber will be hoping home advantage has a significant bearing – not that it did when Kiltane came from seven points behind to win by five last season. Their first round encounter and Kiltane’s second round hosting of Hollymount-Carramore are perhaps the two games that will have the biggest say in who finishes where in Group 1 this year, not that Cill Chomáin would take too kindly to being excluded from the conversation.
Despite reaching last season’s quarter-finals, the north coast boys will be the group’s underdogs because it was there where they lost by twelve points to a Kiltane side that had played much of the game with fourteen players – and it’s known already that Cill Chomáin are down some key players for the year ahead.
Still smarting from their controversial group exit in 2025, where a rogue two-pointer was awarded against them, Hollymount-Carramore look a decent bet to at least bring their quarter-final qualification hopes right down to the final round where they will tackle Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin on neutral ground. Coupled with that Erris derby rematch between Cill Chomáin and Kiltane, Round 3 in this group looks particularly tasty already.
The team that was relegated from the senior championship last season will aim for a swift return to the top tier, however, Ballyhaunis will face a big battle just to make it out of their group. Having to visit Flanagan Park and take on Ballinrobe in their opening game will be no easy ask for Ballyhaunis; an injury hit ‘Robe were perhaps unfortunate to lose last year’s intermediate quarter-final by one goal to a Moy Davitts team that will be outright favourites to lift the Sweeney Cup in 2026, having gone so close in each of the past two finals.
The other first round match in Group 2 pairs Castlebar Mitchels ‘B’ with The Neale, whose quarter-final hopes had dissipated even before the final round of group games last season. The Neale’s only win came against Burrishoole – who are now in the depths of the junior championship for the first time in decades – but should the Tommys, Conroy and Lydon, hit the summer ground running, then Mossy Costello’s side could have quite the influence on this group.
Indeed there’s an interesting dynamic between The Neale and their South Mayo rivals Ballinrobe, who they host in Round 2, as Neale boss Costello is a native of Ballinrobe who are managed by Neale native Eoghan Hughes.
It’s the second year running that Mitchels ‘B’ and Ballinrobe find themselves in the same group, with the latter winning last year’s first round encounter by seven points.
The fact that the two favourites to advance from Group 3, Moy Davitts and Davitts, will meet in Round 2, means that one or both of the group’s two ‘underdogs’, Lahardane MacHales and Louisburgh, could well reach the third round of group games harbouring real hopes of upsetting the order.
The latter pair are familiar foes of Moy Davitts, who beat both during the group stages (Lahardane in 2024 and Louisburgh in 2025) on their way to appearances in the past two county finals, while Moy Davitts also overcame Davitts in the 2024 county semi-final.
Davitts will feel like they massively underperformed last season, despite entering the intermediate championship on the back of a very encouraging showing in Mayo SFL Division 1. A third place finish in the group is something they will be determined to improve upon – and there’s no doubt the talent exists within the squad to go very deep into this year’s competition. In fact, Davitts and Moy Davitts combined have five players who were involved in University of Limerick’s Sigerson Cup winning squad and the clash of the group heavyweights in Foxford in Round 2 is definitely one worth marking down in the diary.
Lahardane posted credible draws against Ardnaree Sarsfields and Ballinrobe in last year’s championship but along with Louisburgh still ended up in the relegation semi-finals, with only an audacious last gasp two-point free by Dylan Prendergast saving the latter from demotion to junior football by the skin of their teeth.
One or the other are likely to find themselves in similar bother this time around too.
All these four teams had quite the stories to tell in 2025. Ardnaree Sarsfields reached their first county intermediate semi-final in over 50 years. Kilmaine entered the quarter-finals – and the GAA’s boardrooms – on the back of an incorrectly awarded two-point score. Islandeady entered the championship with zero league form but inflicted damaging draws upon Davitts and Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin. Kiltimagh ensured their stay in the junior championship was a short one by winning the McDonnell Cup at the first time of asking.
Group 4 looks a particularly difficult one to call and any opinion offered now could change wildly come the end of the upcoming Mayo Senior Football League. There’s no doubt however that Ardnaree’s graph has been on the rise; their steady flow of underage talent augers well for the future and it would be surprising if they weren’t one of the two teams to qualify from this group. Kiltimagh will feel that they’re back where they belong but still in the process of finding a replacement for Mick Regan who stepped down as manager after their All-Ireland Club JFC semi-final defeat in January while in Adam Barrett, Kilmaine possess the top scorer of last year’s intermediate championship after he posted 1-41 in just four games to earn a couple of appearances for Mayo in this year’s FBD Connacht SFL.
Islandeady’s primary goal will be to avoid a bottom of the table finish and avoid another trip to the relegation semi-finals, albeit they acquitted themselves well there last year; their win against Louisburgh meant that in four championship outings they had lost only once.
